July 03, 2017

By
nominating Ramanth Kovind as the Presidential candidate, BJP has tried
to play the politics of tokenism to the hilt. Mr. Kovind is a dalit from
UP. While many names were doing round from BJP parivar, finally they
settled down for a person who is dalit in name and Hindu nationalist in
ideology. Last three years of Modi Sarkar has not only seen rising
violence against Muslims, religious minorities but also against dalits
in particular. Starting from banning of Periyar Study circle in IIT
Madras, to creating a situation where Rohith Vemula, a dalit research
scholar, had to take his life, to ‘cow-violence’ against dalits in Una,
the dalits as a social group have come under severe attack, which is by
product of Hindu nationalist politics. Apart from this; there are also
instances where the a Central minister equated dalits to dogs, a BJP
leader, UP BJP vice President Kripa Shankar Singh said that Mayawati was
worst than a prostitute. Incidentally he was apparently reprimanded but
through back door his wife was given the ticket for assembly elections
and later was made a minister in Yogi cabinet in UP. To add salt to the
injury one saw the horrific anti-dalit violence against dalits in
Saharanpur as Mr. Yogi came to power and upper caste are feeling more
powerful. When the Bhim Army under Chandrasekhar protested against the
attack on dalits, the young Dalit leaders were arrested while to
attackers were left off with minor charges.

This
move of nominating Kovind, seems to be a superficial attempt to assuage
the deep injury inflicted upon the dalits of the society. One recalls
here that after the Gujarat carnage, orchestrated on the pretext of
Godhra train burning, and the deep wounds inflicted upon Muslims in
Gujarat Mr. APJ Abdul Kalam was chosen by BJP to be the President of
India. It was another tokenism, which did not change the deeper anti
minority dynamics in the society. This is what tokenism is supposed to
be doing, creating an impression that one is offering a helping hand.

Mr.
Kovind has been a RSS swayamsevak; he has donated his ancestral house
for RSS work. His opinions as reflected in many of his statement show
that he regards Islam and Christianity as alien religions. This came out
when he was participating in the debate on Rangnath Mishra commission
report, when the issue of reservations for dalits converting to Islam or
Christianity came up for discussion. Mr. Kovind says that education
should have primacy over reservations, undermining reservations for
dalits.

As
a part of BJP, Kovind has been trying to woo the non-Jatav Dalits in UP
in particular. BJP-RSS have won over many a dalits. Likes of Mr. Ram
Vilas Paswan, who has been compromising the interests of dalits for the
sake of personal power, said that all those who oppose Kovind should be
regarded as anti dalit! What does it mean to be a dalit leader today?
There are many of the likes of Kovind and Paswan who seal their lips
when atrocities against dalits are going on and are rising. The dalit
leadership is in the dilemma today. Many of Ramvilas Paswan variety of
dalit leaders are aligned with Hindu Nationalist politics of BJP-RSS as
it gives them perks and power. But there is a large number of others who
are engaging in the protests against the system on the issues of
survival and dignity of the dalits, for their rights as equal citizens.
For the dalits the major achievement has been the coming into being of
Indian Constitution, a document giving them theoretical equality. It
gives them the ground on which they can stand and struggle for their
rights.

On
the other hand the politics of RSS has been opposing Indian
nationalism, in favor of Hindu nationalism. RSS politics has been
upholding the scriptures which have provisions of caste hierarchy
inherent in them. As such Hindu nationalism has come a long way during
last close to a century or so. Is it a coincidence that RSS came up in
the context of the rising protests by dalits in the form of non Brahman
movement in Vidarbha region of Maharshtra. This movement was against the
social structure which gave primacy to landlord Brahmin. The movements
based on equality have been running parallel to the freedom movement.
The dalits were articulating their needs through agitations and
movements for equality. Hindu nationalism upheld the age old system; it
upheld the caste structure in a subtle way. In due course, especially
after the decade of 1990s the politics of RSS-BJP has been opposing
reservation and equality for dalits. It has operated at multiple levels
to co-opt the dalits in to their political fold. Adding on to Vanvasi
Kalyan Ashram, which has been working for Hidnukaran of Adivasis
(Hinduisation), Samajik Samrasta Manch (Social harmony forum) came up to
oppose the struggles for Samata (equality) in favor of ‘harmony amongst
castes’. Through cultural mechanisms it has been trying to propagate
that dalits have been defending Hinduism against the attacks from Islam.

Lately
RSS combine has been making attempts to pay respect to Ambedkar, by
calling him Great Hindu, by observing his anniversary at grand scale
etc. Ambedkar’s politics and Hindu nationalist politics are polar
opposites. Ambedkar stands for Liberty, Equality and Fraternity while
Hindu nationalism is for the hierarchical values of Vedic times. Through
social engineering dalits have been made to participate in destruction
of Babri Masjid and also to participate in anti Muslim violence. How do
assess Mr. Kovind? The politics of a person is not just guided by birth,
dalits propagating and working for Hindu nationalism are harming dalits
in a serious way, while even non dalits upholding the path of Ambedkar
are truly working for uplift of dalits!

Mr.
Kovind must have taken the oath of RSS, which calls for primacy of
Hindu nation. Indian Constitution is for Indian nationalism. What will
he uphold as President of India, the former or the latter?

Map of L K Advani's Rath Yatra of 1990

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